


From out of nowhere

by mckvch (RaiseYourVoice)



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Best Friends, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Protective!Mickey, Underage - Freeform, chubby!Ian, mention of body shaming, mention of bullying, self body shaming, short!Ian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-21
Updated: 2015-08-21
Packaged: 2018-04-16 09:18:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4619955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaiseYourVoice/pseuds/mckvch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was only when he turned 13 and the bullying started to turn from just mean comments to physical intimidation that he decided enough was enough. Okay, maybe it had been Lip who decided that and forced him to start working out because obviously the bullying would only get worse and he could at least try to get rid of his chubbiness - one thing less to tease him about - and gain strength to be able to fight back against the bullies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From out of nowhere

**Author's Note:**

> I blame [this](https://twitter.com/SincerelyTumblr/status/634144606712655872) tweet for the idea. Saw it and this idea popped in my head without my permission. Couldn't get rid of the thought and had to write it down.  
> I hope it's not too messy - wrote it on my iPad and I always end up having a much hight typo rate than usual then.

Ian never really had an easy childhood and growing up in the Southside of Chicago did play a great role in it but it wasn’t just that. It had been the constant teasing, bullying even, by other kids. He wasn’t only bullied for being _one of the Gallagher kids_ and therefore and offspring of Frank whom everyone knew and, admittedly with good reason, at least disliked. It was also for the fact that he was a short, chubby kid with more freckles than anyone could count and to top it off he also was a redhead. It was a perfect mixture for disaster and an early taste of how cruel kids could really be to one another. He hated going to school, even tried to leave the house as little as possible and kept to himself because why would he get out there where he had no friends and only asshole who liked to be mean to him, when he could stay at home and play with his siblings who actually liked having him around - liked him? Ian started to read books as soon as he was able to and stuck to that hobby for years. It was only when he turned 13 and the bullying started to turn from just mean comments to physical intimidation that he decided enough was enough. Okay, maybe it had been Lip who decided that and forced him to start working out because obviously the bullying would only get worse and he could at least try to get rid of his chubbiness - one thing less to tease him about - and gain strength to be able to fight back against the bullies. At least that was the plan and Lip even accompanied him the first two weeks, went on runs with him and helped him develop some kind of half-baked workout routine but then he got his first girlfriend and seemed to forget all about helping his little brother. Ian accepted his fate quickly enough because he was used to the fact that Lip had, for all his genius, the shortest attention span ever when it came to things that didn’t truly interest him. And Ian couldn’t blame him because going on runs and doing workout was annoying as hell, also pretty damn exhausting and no fun at all. Lip wasn’t in need of doing sports anyway because he was naturally slim without having to watch what he was eating or having to work for it. Ian had tried a few different diets in hope of slimming down but nothing had ever helped and Fiona told him that she had been pretty chubby herself as a child, until she hit a growth spurt at the age of 11 and everything sorted itself out naturally. The closer Ian came to the same age mark the more he hoped for a growth spurt of his own but his 11th birthday passed without him suddenly waking up taller and slimmer, even his 12th and 13th birthday didn’t bring any change and he grew only a few centimeters over the years and then the bullying got worse so he got sick of waiting and started with the running and working out. The exercises he could do at home started to kind of be fun after a few weeks because he was able to push himself a little more each time and noticed his body growing stronger. But it didn’t show on the outside and he always had to force himself to leave the house and go for a run because he felt like everyone in the neighborhood was watching the fat little ginger kid run around the blocks and some old ladies even send him sympathetic glances every time he ran past. It was just fucked up that he hated to go outside because of his body but he had to get out of the house to actively do something against the way he looked. Even though there was no guarantee the running really helped - maybe he was one of those poor souls who couldn’t lose weight no matter what they did because some force from above was against them or some shit like that.

~

The irony of his whole ordeal was what happened on one summer day close to his 14th birthday. Ian was out for a run again, sweating in the heat and his face was most certainly the same shade of red than his floppy hair by now and of course that had to be how he met the boy of his dreams. Okay, the guy definitely wasn’t the _boy of his dreams_ immediately because he acted like an absolute douchebag and he met him in the weirdest way. He was running along the street, still cursing the fact that he forgot to charge his mp3-player because music always made running and turning the world off much easier, when a car drove by. The passenger seat window was down because of the summer heat and a boy around Ian’s age popped his head out with a devious grin and yelled “Run, fat ass!!”Ian stumbled a little and almost fell face first onto the pavement - no matter how often he got to hear the most horrible insults, it never stopped hurting like a bitch and being called a fat ass by some kid he had never even met was somewhat worse. The thing was, the car suddenly stopped and he could hear a woman’s voice yell at the boy, telling him to get out of the car and say sorry to ‘the poor boy’. The guy replied he would certainly not apologize for being honest and the woman - the guy’s mum, probably - actually told him to join Ian on his run when he thought he could do any better. Ian’s jaw dropped at that and the guy turned to him with an angry glare of the bluest eyes the redhead had ever seen because he was forced to leave the car to either apologize or tag along for the run. Ian had never been very confident thanks to a life full of bullying and feeling insecure about the way he looked but he couldn’t help the corners of his lips from curling into a little grin and then he started running again, past the boy and even dared to call out “Try to keep up with you skinny ass” and that did the trick, the guy huffed in annoyance and started catching up to him in a jog. It was quickly very obvious that the boy wasn’t used to running around and Ian felt pretty damn triumphant about the fact that he had better stamina than the other one. In the end the woman made her son accompany him for five blogs and _drove besides them in her car the whole time -_ that was mostly to blame for Ian having a hard time not falling down because it was difficult to not burst out laughing at this ridiculous scene. After the five blog the guy’s mother made him apologize for his rude behavior anyway and Ian found out the other’s name was Mickey. Mickey Milkovich. They just moved to the Southside from another equally shitty place - Mickey’s words, not his mother’s - because of something that had to do with his father. He also had a younger sister called Mandy and their Mother Nastasiya suggested for the two boys to become friends because her son could use someone _nice_ to hang out with for a change. When the beat up car of the two Milkoviches drove off after the little small-talk Ian was left standing on the sidewalk for a few minutes, wondering about what had just happened. His initial thought about Mickey had been that he was just like everybody else he knew from school - an asshat and a bully. But for reasons unknown to him he didn’t exactly dislike the guy. On the way back home Ian had the brightest blue eyes in existence stuck in his mind and unruly black hair that framed a slightly round face that still managed to look intimidating and determined. His own face was round as well but he didn’t look intimidating at all and everybody who didn’t bully him called him cute, old ladies were always tempted to pinch his cheeks and even his siblings always compared him with an adorable, innocent puppy. Mickey definitely didn’t look like that and Ian was sure, if anyone ever dared to pinch the other boy’s cheeks they would lose at least one finger in the process.

~

It was a few weeks after this incident and with only one week of vacations left before school would start again, when Fiona called Ian downstairs because there was _someone at the door who wanted to see him_. The redhead had no clue who would want to visit him and he mentally readied him for some douchebag from school bringing the bullying to a whole new level on his own doorstep. Ian climbed down the stairs and froze in his movement as soon as his gaze met bright blue eyes and a cheeky grin.

“Yo, freckles. How ’bout a run?” Mickey cocked his head with a confident expression and his grin turned into something daring that caused Ian to nod without a second thought. Seemed like the other boy had been bothered by the fact that his stamina apparently sucked in comparison to Ian’s and it should’ve been the expected reaction for him wanting some kind of re-match or whatever this was supposed to be. But the redhead certainly didn’t complain and he wasn’t even bothered by the nickname because for the first time in his life it actually sounded like exactly that - a nickname and not a term to insult him with one of his distinctive features. With Fiona’s confused gaze glued to the back of his head Ian scrambled back up the stairs to retrieve his running shoes that he kept under his bed because otherwise they would disappear by the hands of one of his siblings sooner or later. As soon as he bolted down the stairs he felt Mickey’s warm fingers curl around his wrist and pull him out the front door so he was only able to call a short “Bye” in Fiona’s general direction. Their first meeting had already been the weirdest thing that had ever happened to Ian but this time was just as wondrous to him because first, he had no clue how Mickey knew where he lived, and second, why on earth would the other boy drop by out of the blue and ask him out for a run? Ian expected something uncomfortable at the end of this meeting because no one outside of his family was ever nice to him and Mickey certainly didn’t seem like the kind of guy who was nice to anyone, ever. Turned out the brunette was more than serious about going for a run and his stamina was still pretty fucked but his stubbornness was the most impressive character trait Ian had ever encountered. In the end Ian pretended to be too exhausted to go on because he was honestly a little scared the other boy would drop to the ground any second - his breathing sounded like he was close to dying. Of course Mickey was acting al triumphant and the redhead surprisingly didn’t mind letting the other boy think he won because the brunette’s grin, when he recovered his breath, was the moment Ian realized that _yeah, he was totally gay_ because his first thought upon seeing Mickey’s wide grin was _drop dead gorgeous_. Problem was: he was very sure of the fact that Mickey probably wasn’t into guys, especially not into short chubby ones, and he would probably hit him over the head with the next available object if he ever found out that Ian honestly started crushing on him over a simple grin.

To Ian’s surprise this was only the start of a very weird and very awesome friendship with one Mickey Milkovich. The brunette actually went not only to the same school when the vacations ended, he even had multiple courses with Ian and they started bonding over the fact that they both hated math with a passion. One week into the school year they even started spending the break in between classes together, ate their lunch together and one day Mickey suddenly suggested they could work out together - running just wasn’t for him but he did work out and did know a few things about how to bulk up successfully. And that’s how Ian found his first friend and he really didn’t care that Mickey could be damn rude sometimes and that he had a short temper because he found out quickly that there was so much more to the boy. Mickey was only one year older than the redhead, his father had be a hopeless, violent drunk who’d literally push everyone around and even hit Mickey’s mum or his children. Mandy wasn’t his only sibling but the four older brothers were from different mothers so when Terry, their father, died of an overdose during some bar fight they were send off to their biological mothers or had ended up in the foster system. Ian found out that Mickey didn’t care about his other siblings, that the day his father died was the happiest he’d ever been and he wasn’t above starting a fight when other students dared badmouthing his mom, sister or even Ian. Not only did he spend more and more time with Ian, giving him ridiculous nicknames and always managed to steal the sweets the redhead brought to school with his lunch, he also became fiercely protective of him. He pushed a table into a guy in the middle of class because he was throwing paper balls at the back of Ian’s head; he punched another guy right in the face for making jokes about Ian being a leprechaun; he almost beat yet another boy to a bloody pulp because he tried to hurt Ian. It was the strangest feeling to suddenly have someone by his side that didn’t fear being sent to the principal’s office for getting in a fight for him and he had never been more awestruck than at the moment when he realized that Mickey was protecting him. It didn’t make the bullying stop completely but it became more than bearable and Ian found he didn’t care about stupid comments anymore because when he looked next to him, there was Mickey Milkovich, who had popped up in his life from out of nowhere and…stuck around. The brunette didn’t make any other friends at school and when one day Ian tentatively asked why, he said “First, I don’t wanna be friends with bullying douchebags and second, I’ve got you. What do I need anyone else for?” and the redhead had the biggest smile on his face for the rest of the day. Mickey never failed to surprise and amaze him. On one hand he was rough and insulting but on the other hand he could be the most adorable and sweetest thug in the history of ever. Of course it made Ian fall even harder for the boy with the mischievous glint in his clear blue eyes.

~

It happened when Ian didn’t even care about his appearance anymore - the growth spurt he never thought would ever happen. It was during the summer vacation when he had turned 16 and Mickey was gone for most of the holidays because he, his mum and Mandy were visiting relatives out of town. The summer was boring as all hell because he was used to have Mickey stuck to him every single day and that was the reason he didn’t even notice the change that happened to him in the short span of five weeks. The brunette dropped by right after being back from his relatives, already started complaining about the horrible ride back and Mandy’s choice of music in the car when he entered the room Ian shared with his brothers - one day Mickey had started to just walk into the house like it was his second home and nobody cared to tell him otherwise - but he suddenly fell silent mid-rant, causing Ian to look up from the book he was engrossed by until this moment. The brunette had paused in the doorway, lips slightly parted and an expression of surprised and maybe…wonder reflected in his beautiful eyes.

“Uh, right. I forgot to mention I had a haircut? It was just too hot”, Ian remembered with a somewhat sheepish grin, put the book down on the mattress next to him and got up from the bed, wondering if Mickey might think his now pretty short hair looked ugly. Even after almost three years of being friends with the brunette, the damage done to Ian’s self-esteem still wasn’t mended and it was easy to fall back into the habit of thinking something was wrong with him.

“The haircut is a surprise but that’s not it…I was gone for five weeks, did you sleep in fertilizer or what the fuck happened while I was gone??” Mickey looked as surprised as the redhead felt and he wasn’t really getting what his best friend was talking about. Only when the brunette entered the room properly and stepped right in front of him did Ian register how his body had changed - Mickey used to be taller than him but now he was a few centimeters shorter which meant Ian had grown about a head at least.

“I didn’t even notice…” he mumbled and looked at Mickey in awe, who snorted softly and punched him in the arm for no other reason than because he could. It was so weird being taller than his best friend all of a sudden but that thought disappeared in a matter of seconds when Mickey’s slightly rough hands were suddenly up and in his face, squishing his cheeks softly.

“Looks like you’ll get rid of your baby fat after all. Five weeks, freckles, and you suddenly look like some kind of model. You obviously didn’t pause with the workout either.” The brunette scrunched up his nose and that already told Ian he had been the only one to pull through with the little workout plan they had going together. Of course, he wasn’t around and Mickey immediately became all lazy and skipped his workouts. But the redhead couldn’t care less about stuff like that because Mickey’s hands still lingered on his face and they were so close, he could feel the heat radiating off the other’s body. Ian was about to say something to break the awkward silence that was about to creep up on them but all of a sudden Mickey crashed their lips together and his brain short-circuited. Over the past year Ian had developed the hunch that the brunette might be gay as well and that there was _something_ between them but he never expected it to be actually true, thought it was a stupid fantasy because he had a major crush on his best friend and saw things through rose colored glasses. Mickey was about to pull back when Ian finally remembered he was supposed to respond to the soft press against his lips. The redhead’s hand hovered in the air next to Mickey’s sides for a short moment before they finally settled on the now shorter boy’s body while Ian leaned into the kiss that quickly grew more heated. Admittedly, this was Ian’s first kiss and he had no clue whatsoever about what he was supposed to do but it still felt perfect and he opened up without hesitation when a wet tongue pressed against his lips to deepen the contact. It was sloppy and wet but he loved every second of it, especially because this was only the first kiss of many more and suddenly his life seemed like the best thing ever. Ian had always been the short, chubby ginger from the Gallagher family, the one who got bullied for his looks. Since he met Mickey, though, he became something different entirely - a best friend, partner in crime for little shoplifting stunts, a guy who went from hating any nicknames about his looks to loving being called _freckles_ and so much more. But from this day, this first kiss, on he also became the luckiest boyfriend on the planet because there was no guy more gorgeous, dorky, tough and adorable than the boy whose eyes had the color of a clear, bright spring sky and the depth of the ocean when they looked at him. Ian honestly wouldn’t have given a damn about his looks anymore but he had to admit his change from short and chubby to tall, slender and muscular had its benefits. One of those benefits was being able to see his lover get jealous because there were suddenly people looking at him in a very different way than before his change and he might love it way too much when Mickey got all grumpy when someone looked at _his_ redhead in _that_ way. His boyfriend was sweet, protective and not above fighting off guys that came too close to Ian and he certainly didn’t want Mickey any other way because this was part of him, them, and it was perfect in every way.


End file.
